todd nelson

Before you head out for your weekend (oh, who is kidding…no one is going anywhere in this cold!), here are three things that I have recently read and been thinking about. My prayer/hope/desire is for them to be as helpful and challenging for you as they have been for me.

Have a great weekend!

1

William Blake became the first living conjecture of the 1,000 True Fans theory. He knew what we all eventually realize, if we are awake and courageous enough: that the best way — and the only effective way — to complain about the way things are is to make new and better things, untested and unexampled things, things that spring from the gravity of creative conviction and drag the status quo like a tide toward some new horizon. Maria Popova from The Marginalian

Instead of complaining…be creative. Instead of moaning about how things are…change them in your life. Instead of looking for someone to blame…take responsibility for your part and fix that.

2

Rather than aiming to influence people far and wide, perhaps we should turn our attention to the seemingly mundane around us where we can actually have impact. A Creative Minority by Jon Tyson

Do whatever is right in front of you. Work with whatever gifts you’ve been given. Be faithful in small and imperceptible ways. Don’t get enamored by the bold and the difficult and miss the boring and accessible. This is how God changes the world.

3

Christ is the fullness , complete work and word of God.  The Ascent to Mount Carmel by St John of the Cross

I wonder if we make faith more difficult than it is meant to be. Knowing three dollar theological terms is fine – I guess. Completing difficult feats of spiritual devotion is fine – maybe. But what if we are, in fact, distracting ourselves from the person of Christ by learning things about him and doing things for him. What if we are actually being devoted to being devoted to Jesus instead of loving him? We do not need special visions, complete knowledge, or over the top devotional practices to grow in Christ. Instead, let us begin by simply clinging to Jesus. He is the fullness, complete work and word of God.